Eastern Michigan University has hired a handful of new officers as it makes good on its promise to increase its police force a third by the fall.

The school hired has fired five full-time officers and one part-time foot patrol officer.

EMU now has 36 sworn police officers — three of whom are part time — and plans to hire another five by the end of the year.

“These additional officers will provide a crucial new dimension to our policing efforts.” EMU Police Chief Bob Heighes said in a release. “It was exciting to see our new officers sworn in and think about all they will contribute to our campus community.”

Heighes said that the new officers will undergo four months of training with another officer in the field before joining the regular rotation of patrols.

The new officers will assist in EMU's growing effort to ramp up patrols in off-campus areas that border the Ypsilanti campus. Safety concerns about off-campus areas near the university were heightened after the slaying of EMU football player Demarius Reed this fall. EMU students have also been the victims of several other attacks in recent months.